Great Castles - Legends - The Ghost of King Edward II of Berkeley Castle Search The Ghost of King Edward II of Berkeley Castle Located in Gloucestershire England, Berkeley Castle was built in 1153 by William FitzOsbern after Henry II granted permission to construct a castle of stone. Over the centuries, Berkeley Castle served an important role in English history with its Earls participating in many famous wars. The castle was damaged after being battered by Lord Oliver Cromwell. For approximately 850 years, the castle has been inhabited by the Berkeley Family and resides as the oldest inhabited castle in England. The castle is best known for the royal figure who was imprisoned and murdered there. As Richard Jones tells the story ... "Visitors to the castle can still see a deep dungeon in the old keep, into which were once thrown the rotting carcasses of animals, accompanied every so often, it is said, by the corpses of common people who had offended the powerful Lord Berkeley. The stench rising from this disease-ridden and malodorous pit must have been unbearable, but it also provided an exquisitely horrific way to punish those of noble birth who had incurred the wrath of the Berkeley family. A windowless cell can be seen close by.

Here, unfortunate nobles would be locked away, with only the stinking air from the nearby dungeon to breathe. It provided a convenient method by which to dispose of those who could not be seen to have been murdered, since few people could survive long in the dreadful and fetid atmosphere. It was this living hell that Edward II found himself confined in 1327, after he was deposed by his wife, Queen Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer. It was their intention that a few days in the dreadful chamber would bring about the king’s death. But his constitution surprised them. He did become ill, but he recovered and managed to survive five months in the loathsome cell. Clearly a more direct approach was required, and so the queen instructed Edward’s jailers, Sir John Maltravers and Sir Thomas Gurney, to dispose of her husband as they saw fit. And so on September 21, 1327, Edward II suffered the most horrible death of any British monarch. The two men seized Edward and pinned him face down to the bed, whereupon 'a kind of horn or funnel was thrust into his fundament through which a red-hot spit was run up his bowels'.

Such was the king’s agony that his screams are said to have been heard far beyond the castle walls, and have echoed down the centuries on the anniversary of his death ever since." This ghost story was taken from the book "Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland" by Richard Jones. We would like to thank Richard for graciously allowing us to use his text on Great Castles for some of the ghost stories presented on this site. You can find other stories by Mr. Jones on his web site, Haunted Britain , or you can buy one of his fantastic books, which he has written over twenty on the paranormal and Jack the Ripper. To order a book directly from Richard himself, click the image of the book to the left. About the Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland book: Region by region, ghost-seeker Richard Jones reveals, explains and delights in the tales of tortured phantoms eager to restage their dark and turbulent pasts. The cast of characters ranges from ghostly queens that hurl themselves from the ramparts to malevolent monks that wander the corridors. This authoritative and accessible guide to haunted sites is illustrated throughout and includes extracts from original documents. Our worst monarch? Britain's spoilt for choice... | Daily Mail Online Our worst monarch?

Britain's spoilt for choice... comments They include, among their number, the vain, the greedy and the downright corrupt. There are adulterers, swindlers and cowards. Yet this group also shares one thing in common. In their own lifetimes, they were the most powerful individuals in the land. English Heritage has just conducted a poll to find Britain's Most Useless Monarch and it's a pretty crowded field. The eventual 'winner' has just been announced as George IV. His lazy, spendthrift nature and unpleasantness to his wife Queen Caroline seems to have won him the accolade. But so terrible have many of our kings and queens been that a closer look at their misrule serves to illustrate just how blessed we are to live in a more enlightened age. So here, in ascending order of uselessness, is my own list of those who have disgraced the throne. Morally suspect monarchs: King Stephen (l) was corrupt, Mary Tudor (c) was bigoted, and Henry VIII (r) was psychotic No. 10 is James I, who has been described as a 'foul-mouthed, conceited pacifist without royal dignity'.

This was particularly proved when he kissed one of his male favourites full on the lips during his own coronation. It couldn't have been a pleasant experience, because historians report that due to some physiological abnormality the king's tongue was too big for his mouth, and kept lolling out. It was James who sent the great Elizabethan seafaring hero Sir Walter Raleigh to the scaffold in order to appease the Spanish, and filled his government with Scottish friends he had brought south with him, to the exclusion of better-qualified Englishmen. (Remind you of anyone in power today?) If anyone deserved a Gunpowder Plot against him in 1605, it was James. But we are often better off with the devil we know. Because coming in at No. 9 is James's grandson, James II, who failed to learn the lesson of the English Civil War - which had cost his father, Charles I, his head - and continued to believe in the Divine Right of Kings.

By trying to force Roman Catholicism on to the British Isles, he deservedly lost his throne in 1688, and in a fit of pique he dropped the Great Seal of England into the River Thames as he fled London for France, idiotically believing that this would somehow prevent his son-in-law and daughter, William and Mary, from governing successfully. At least James II did not manage to plunge his country into a particularly long civil war, like No 8 on my list, King John (1167-1216), who fought against his own barons, on one occasion so disastrously that he lost his baggage train in quicksand in the Wash. Two more candidates for Britain's Most Useless Monarch: George IV (l) was indolent, while Edward VIII (r) was petulant 'John was a bad character,' writes one chronicler. 'His country had some experience of his selfcentred double-dealing. Nobody with sense trusted him. It followed that his unsanctioned promises were worthless.' He is best remembered for the Magna Carta, which enshrined many freedoms we still enjoy today but which he had to be forced to sign by his nobles.

Yet at least John stayed on the throne, unlike our No. 7, Edward VIII, a profoundly irresponsible monarch who put his love affair with Mrs Simpson before his duty to the Empire. Knowing that he was going to abdicate the next month, Edward nonetheless outrageously told the unemployed miners of South Wales in November 1936 that: 'Something should be done to get them at work again.' This raised hope among them that the Government might save their jobs, which Edward knew was not the case. Edward VIII was not a psychopathic murderer, however, unlike No. 6, an appropriate position for Henry VIII as it was also the number of wives he had, most of whom he harried, bullied and generally maltreated. To behead not one but two wives, and to invent the whole concept of divorce in order to get shot of two more, would win Henry a place in any list of rogues. But it was his cruel, cynical brutality towards everyone who crossed him in life - male as well as female - that makes Henry VIII particularly unpleasant. When he knew he was dying, he had the handsome, intelligent young poet the Earl of Surrey executed beforehand, supposedly for treason, but really because he was jealous of his looks, talent and charm.

Henry was a strong monarch, however, unlike the utterly pathetic bisexual Edward II and Richard II, who tie for fourth place. Edward II scandalised the court and angered his father Edward I by his passionate attachment to the courtier Piers Gaveston, whose greed and arrogance was plain to everyone, except the besotted Edward. After Gaveston was assassinated by the nobles, Edward became infatuated with another courtier, Hugh Despenser, on to whom he lavished land and riches. When finally Despenser fell from power in January 1327, Edward II was captured and killed at Berkeley Castle, reputedly by the insertion of a red-hot poker into his rectum, in order to conceal the murder. A nasty way to go, but if anyone deserved it, it was he. Tying at joint fourth is Richard II, who just like Edward II, fell under the influence of a disastrous favourite, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who historians record was 'a silly, vain, irresponsible man'.

It was in Richard II's time that disastrous foreign adventures bankrupted the government, causing him to try to raise the hated poll tax, which led to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. And so we arrive at the finalists in our royal gallery of shame. In third place comes English Heritage's top choice, George IV, whose self-indulgence, hatred of his kindly father, 'mad' George III, swinishness to his (admittedly dreadful) wife Princess Caroline, and appalling over-spending during straitened times, meant that the newspapers openly celebrated his death in 1830. Indolent and obese (he was nicknamed 'the Prince of Whales'), his scandalous private life - he married his mistress illegally - and his refusal to allow his wife to attend his coronation held up the monarchy to widespread ridicule. In second place comes Mary Tudor (1516-1558), who cruelly burned at the stake no fewer than 300 Protestants - each execution having her personal sanction.

A puppet ruler for her hated religious fanatic husband, Philip II of Spain, Bloody Mary was responsible for the burning to death of the saintly Bishop Nicholas Ridley and the preacher Hugh Latimer. For these and other crimes, she deserves the dishonour of being our worst ever queen. In my opinion, however, the most useless British monarch of all time was someone of whom few have even heard. King Stephen usurped his uncle Henry I's throne in 1135, outmanouevring both his own elder brother Theobald and the rightful heir, Henry's daughter the Empress Matilda. He seized the Treasury, crowned himself, gave Cumbria to the Scots to buy them off, paid Danegeld to appease the Danes and then plunged Britain into a series of four civil wars between 1138 and 1154. These left the country ravaged, impoverished and weaker than at any other time before or since. It is a doleful list of cruelty, disaster and failure. But we should remember that monarchy is, by its very nature, something of a lottery. And just as Britain has had the misfortune to endure some very bad rulers, so too have we enjoyed some truly great ones.

Indeed, we are particularly blessed to have a reigning monarch today who undoubtedly stands in the top five, alongside such illustrious predecessors as Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Edward III, George V and George III. Hard-working, devout, dutiful, good-natured and respected throughout the world, the Queen is everything a nation looks for in a head of state. If she has her mother's longevity - and there is every indication from her state of health that she does - she will beat Queen Victoria's record reign of 63 years, seven months and three days on the throne, on September 16, 2015. If monarchy's a lottery, our age may just have struck the jackpot. How many British monarchs have been killed while they were king or queen? How many British monarchs have been killed while they were king or queen? 1 Answer 0 - King Edmund I was killed in 946 during a feast at Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, by an outlawed robber.

- King Edward The Martyr was murdered by members of Aethelred's household at Corfe Castle in 978 - King Edmund II Ironside was assassinated in London in 1016 - King Harold II was killed by an arrow in his eye at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. - King William I The Conqueror suffered a fatal internal injury in 1087 after being thrown against the pommel of his saddle near Nantes in France. - King William II Rufus was killed in 1100 with an arrow while hunting in the New Forest. Supposedly an accident, it has been suggested that he was shot deliberately on the instructions of his brother Henry. - Richard I The Lion Heart was killed by a crossbow bolt while besieging Châlus-Chabrol in France in 1199. - Edward II was murdered in 1327 at Berkeley Castle on the orders of his wife, Isabella - Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London in 1471. - Edward V and his younger brother were ...

more britroyals.com 1000+ images about Royalty on Pinterest | William the conqueror, King richard i and King george Forward The oldest surviving crown of an English queen, 1370-80. Gold, enamel, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, pearls. Recorded in England in a list of jewels and plate drawn up in 1399. Probably belonged to King Edward III or Anne of Bohemia, the wife of King Richard II, who was deposed that year by Henry IV. Henry's daughter, Princess Blanche, married the Palatine Elector Ludwig III in 1402 and the crown passed to the Palatine Treasury in Heidelberg as part of her dowry.

See More The Plantagenet Dynasty - British Monarchy Family History British Monarchy Family History The Plantagenet Dynasty was the ruling royal dynasty of England (and Wales from 1277) for two hundred and forty five years by way of eight kings, or three hundred and seventeen years by way of fourteen kings, if we include the successive royal houses of Lancaster and York, both of which were off - shoots of the House of Plantagenet, making the dynasty both England's and Britain's longest reigning royal house. The name Plantagenet comes from the Latin word for the broom plant, planta genista, as the father of the first king of the dynasty, Geoffrey Plantagenet, depicted the broom plant on his family crest. It was during the Plantagenet dynasty that the three lions passant guardant, also known as gules, were adopted as England's royal coat of arms, the design of which has changed little since the days of King Richard I.

HENRY II Henry Plantagenet was born in Le Mans, France on the 5th of March 1133, the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and his wife Matilda, the former Empress of Rome and daughter of King Henry I. Henry Plantagenet came to the throne upon the signing of the Treaty of Wallingford (an agreement between King Stephen and Empress Matilda) by the then de- facto King Stephen on the 25th of October 1154. He was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on the 19th of December of the same year. When Henry became the first king of the Plantagenet Dynasty he also became the first king of England, as opposed to King of the English, as had been the title of the previous Norman monarchs. He was also the first undisputed English royal monarch since King Harold in 1066 and had put an end to a period of English history known as the Nineteen Year Long Winter, on offshoot of the Anarchy period when de- facto King Stephen ruled the country instead of the rightful heir to the throne, his mother Empress Matilda the daughter of Norman king, Henry I.

During his thirty five year reign King Henry II made a series of legal reforms which held the basis of English common Law as well as instigating the Assize of Clarendon which established the British judicial policy of trial by jury. Henry also became overlord of Wales in 1163, overlord of Scotland in 1174 and overlord of Ireland in 1175. Henry is thought to have had several mistresses and an unknown number of illegitimate offspring. In 1152, the year that he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry's his first recorded illegitimate child, Geoffrey Plantagenet, the future Archbishop of York was born. The details of his mother are unclear but it is believed to have been a woman known simply as Ykenai. To strengthen the alliance between England and France Louis VII of France sent his eight year old daughter, Alys, Countess of Vexin (1160) to England in order to marry Henry’s legitimate son and heir, Richard, but Richard would end up marrying Berengaria of Navarre as Alys had become his father's mistress. She is thought to have had at least one child with Henry.

In 1175, Matilda, the future Abbess of Barking was born, although the the name of her mother is not known. In 1776 William Longespée, the future 3rd Earl of Salisbury was born. He was Henry’s son by his mistress Ida de Tesny, Countess of Norfolk. It is also believed that Henry had a son with Lady Nesta Bloet, who she named Morgan. Morgan would later become the Bishop of Durham. However in 1163 Henry would meet the love of his life, the renowned beauty of the day Rosamund Clifford (1150 - 1176). Rosamund was born at Clifford Castle in Herefordshire sometime in 1150 and was one of the six children of landowner Walter de Clifford and his wife Margaret de Tesny. Henry and Rosamund's relationship is said to have lasted for thirteen years from 1163 to 1176, but it has never been ascertained if she bore the king any offspring.

Little is known about Rosamund despite her lengthy affair with the monarch and several myths and legends that have been attributed to her, the most famous of which is that her life ended after having been poisoned by Henry's queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Rosamund was buried in the grounds of Godstow Priory near Oxford, where she had been sent for health reasons just before her death sometime in 1176, at the age of just twenty six. King Henry died in Chinon, France on the 6th of July 1189 and was buried at the nearby Fontevroult Abbey. ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE Henry's Queen was Eleanor of Aquitane (1122 - 1204) on the 18th of May 1152 at Poitiers Cathedral in France. Eleanor was born sometime in 1122 in Poitiers, France and was the eldest daughter of William X, Count of Aquitaine and his wife Aenor de Chatellerault. When she married Henry she was also the former wife of French king, Louis VII, whom she divorced only eight weeks before her marriage to Henry.

Due to her father's wealth and lands Eleanor was the richest and most powerful woman in Europe during the middle ages, she was also a great beauty of the day and of extremely robust health, giving birth to ten healthy babies and living well into her eighty second year. After her death on the first of April 1204 she was buried in Fontevroult Abbey alongside her husband and several of her children. In her later years she became envious of the many young and beautiful women at court and it has been said that she was at one time implicit in the death of King Henry's mistress Rosamund Clifford, but this has never been substantiated. However, she did manage to turn both her sons against their father which caused two rebellions against him, one in 1173 and one in 1189, both of which finally sent the king into a decline of which he never recovered. When Eleanor married Henry she had already been the Queen of France where she had already borne two daughters, Marie, Countess of Champagne (1145 - 1198) and Alix, Countess of Blois (1151 - 1198).

Henry and Eleanor had eight children, two of which became future kings of England and one a future King of Spain, they were;. William IX - Count of Poitiers - (1153 - 1156) - Died in infancy. Henry, The Young King - (1155 - 1183) - He married Margaret of France (1157 - 1197) the daughter of Louis VII of France and Constance of Castile, in 1160, when he was just five years old and she was only two years old. They had one son who died in infancy. Matilda, Duchess of Saxony - (1156 - 1189) - She married Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria in 1167. They had eight children, three who died in infancy Eleanor 1178, Ingeborg 1180 and a stillborn son in 1182.

Their surviving children were; Matilda, Countess of Perche,1172 - 1209, Henry V, Count of Palatine,1173 - 1227, Lothar of Bavaria, 1174 - 1190, Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, 1175 - 1218, William of Winchester, 1184 - 1213 and Matilda who died in 1189 and is buried in Brunswick Cathedral, Bavaria. Richard of England - (1157 - 1199). Future King of England. Richard was a confirmed homosexual and although he did marry, it is believed the marriage was never consummated, therefore there were no children from the union between him and his queen consort Berengaria of Navarre. Geoffrey II Duke of Brittany - (1158 - 1186). He married Constance, Duchess of Brittany (1161 - 1201) the daughter of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Huntingdon, in 1181.

They had three children, one of which was born posthumously: They were; Eleanor, Maid of Brittany (1184 - 1241), Maud / Matilda of Brittany (1185 - 1189) and Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (1187 - 1203). Geoffrey died in 1186 and is buried in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. Eleanor of Castile - (1162 - 1214) - Who married Alfonso VIII of Castile, son of Sancho III of Castile and Blanche of Navarre in 1177, they had ten children: Infanta Berengaria, (1180 - 1246). Infante Sancho, (1181 - 1181). Infanta Sancha, (1182 - 1185). Infante Enrique, (1184 - 1184). Infanta Urraca, (1187 - 1220). Infante Fernando, (1189 - 1211).

Infanta Malfalda, (1191 - 1211). Infanta Constanza, (1195 - 1243). Infanta Leonor, (1202 - 1244). Enrique I (Henry) (1204 - 1217). Joan of Sicily - 1165 - 1199. Married William of Sicily (1155 - 1189) son of William I of Sicily and Margaret of Navarre in 1177. They had one son Bohemond born in 1181 who died in infancy.Joan was widowed in 1189. She then married Raymond of Toulouse (1156 - 1222) the son of Raymond V of Toulouse and Constance of France in 1196 and had three children: Raymond V of Toulouse (1197 - 1249). Mary of Toulouse (b.1198) no death date exists for Joan, but she did live into adulthood and marry.

Richard of Toulouse (1189 - 1189). John Lackland of England - (1167 - 1216) - Future King of England. He married Isabel, Countess of Gloucester the daughter of William FitzRobert, Earl of Gloucester and Hawise de Beaumont in 1189. They had no children and their marriage was annulled in 1199. In 1200, when he was king, he married Isobella of Angouleme. This union produced five children, one of whom would become the future King of England and another would become the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Richard was born at Beaumont Palace in Oxfordshire on the eighth of September 1157. He was the fourth child of King Henry II and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard came to the throne upon the death of his father in June, 1189 and was later crowned at Westminster Abbey on the third of September 1189.

He would go on to be known as Richard the Lionheart due to his many military victories during the third crusade of the Holy Land but he is also known for adopting Saint George as the Patron Saint of England, after George apparently came to him in a vision before his battle with the Saracens in Arsuf in 1191. Richard's army was victorious and as George had been seen with a red cross emblazoned upon his chest Richard proclaimed that all English soldiers must wear the Red Cross of Saint George upon their breastplates when going into battle. Richard reigned for ten years before his death on April the sixth 1199, although he spent only six months of that reign actually residing in England. Richard died in Chalus, France after receiving a shoulder wound from a crossbow bolt. He was buried in Fontevroult Abbey along side his father and several other family members.

TIME IMMEMORIAL The well known saying Time Immemorial, which means time beyond the reach of memory or record or in legal terms time before recorded legal history as laid down by the first Statute of Westminster in 1275, is said to have begun on the first day of King Richard I's reign (6th of July, 1189). GREAT SEAL OF THE REALM Since 1066 every English monarch got to choose their own Royal Seal. A Royal Seal would be cast in wax and used to symbolise the monarch's approval of official documents. The seal which is used today, featuring the three lions passant guardant, is the one which was chosen by King Richard I in 1198, although there has been some slight changes made to it right up until the time of the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland by King James I of England / VI of Scotland in 1603. JOHN John was born at Beaumont Palace in Oxfordshire on Christmas Eve 1166. He was the eighth born child of King Henry II and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine.

John came to the throne upon the death of his elder brother Richard and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 27th of May 1199. King John died on October the 18th, 1216 and was interred in Worcester Cathedral. John was considered as an unprincipled opportunist who resulted in losing the vast French Empire secured by his father and alienating both the English court and the Pope. John did leave one lasting achievement during his reign, that of agreeing, albeit under duress, to the signing of the Charter of Liberties ( Magna Carta ) which he signed at Runnymead in 1215, although in 1216 he renounced the whole thing forcing barons to consider deposing him, but he died of dysentry in Newark before this could be enforced, but not before he had stolen the Crown Jewels of England and lost them in quicksand in the tidal estuary of The Wash in East Anglia. Because of his actions, to this day, no royal child will bare his name just in case history repeats it's self.

John married twice during his life and both times to women who were called Isabella, see below, but despite this John was also considered of lecherous nature and is said to have fathered as many as twelve recognised, illegitimate children, although there were possibly many more that went unrecorded. The recognised children were: 1. Joan, by a mistress named Clemence. 2. Richard de Warenne, by the daughter of William and Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. 3. Oliver, by a mistress named Hawise in 1190. 4. John, possibly born around 1201. 5. Geoffrey, possibly born around 1204. 6. Henry, possibly born around 1205. 7. Osbert. Henry was born on the first of October 1207, at Winchester Castle in Hampshire, the first born child of King John and his second wife Queen Isabella.

With the unexpected death of King John and the country now in the hands of warring barons which were bringing the country to it's knees the nine year old Henry was quickly crowned at Gloucester Cathedral on the 28th of October 1216. However he would go on to be crowned again, this time at Westminster Abbey on the 17th of May 1220, on the orders of Pope Honorius III who felt that his first simple and rushed coronation was not legitimate in the eyes of the church, making King Henry III the only British monarch to have been crowned twice. Under the guidance of regents William Marshall, the Earl of Pembroke and Hubert de Burgh the country and it's empire became stabilised. Henry was a pious and educated man with his fifty six year long reign known as the Golden Age of Learning, Architecture and the Arts. He founded the first two colleges at Oxford University, Merton and Balliol, rebuilt Westminster Abbey and oversaw the building of the cathedrals at St Albans, Salisbury, Lincoln and Wells.

However Henry's reign was dogged by civil strife from English barons, which eventually culminated in both Henry and his son Edward being held under house arrest, an act which nearly caused the complete abolition of the monarchy. Henry is not belived to have fathered any illegitimate children. King Henry died on the 16th of November 1272 and was later buried in Westminster Abbey. ELEANOR OF PROVENCE When Henry was twenty nine years old he married the beautiful nineteen year old, Eleanor of Provence (1223 - 1291), at Canterbury Cathedral on the 14th of January 1236. Eleanor was born sometime in 1223 in Aix en Provence in France and was the second daughter of Ramon Berenguer V, Count of Provence and his wife Beatrice of Savoy. Although a loving wife and mother and considered to be both amiable and of pleasant character, Eleanor was not liked by the people of England, due to her many family members from Savoy whom Henry indulged by giving influential positions both in the English government and across the country.

When she was widowed in 1272 she stayed on in London for two more years as Dowager Queen, but retired to a convent in Amesbury, Wiltshire upon the death of her grandson Henry whose death she had taken very hard. She died there on the 25th of June 1291 and was buried in the Abbey of St Mary and St Melor in Amesbury. The royal couple, who were by all accounts devoted to one another, had eight children, four of which died in infancy, they were: Edward of England (1239 - 1307) - Became King of England upon the death of his father in 1272. Margaret (1240 - 1275) - Married Alexander III of Scotland son of Alexander II of Scotland and Marie de Courcy, on the 26th of December 1251 at York Minster. They had two children, Margaret, Queen of Norway ( 1241 - 1286) and Alexander, Prince of Scotland ( 1260 - 1283).

Beatrice, (1242 - 1275) - She married John II of Brittany, the son of John I of Brittany and Blanche of Navarre on the 22 January 1260. They had six children: Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (1262 - 1312). John de Bretagne (1266 - 1334). Marie de Dreux (1268 - 1339). Pierre, Viscount de Lyon (1269 - 1312). Blanche de Dreux (1271 - 1327) and Eleonore, Abbess of Fontevroult Abbey, (1274 - 1329). Edmund, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, (1245 - 1296) - He married Lady Aveline de Forz (1258 - 1273), the daughter of William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle and Isabel Reviers, Countess of Aumale on the 8th of April 1269.

They were married only four years before Edmund was widowed in 1273. Edmund then married Blanche of Artois (1248 - 1302) the daughter of Robert I of Artois and Matilda of Brabant, on the 3rd of February 1276. They had three children : Thomas Plantagenet (1278 - 1322). Henry Plantagenet (1281 - 1345). and John, Lord of Beaufort (1282 - 1327). Richard (1247 - 1256), John (1250 - 1256), Katherine (1253 - 1257) and Henry (1256 - 1257). EDWARD I Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament, on the 17th of June 1239 and was the eldest child of King Henry III and his wife Eleanor of Provence.

The thirty two year old prince was actually in Sicily fighting in the eighth Crusade when he was informed of the death of his father King Henry III in 1272, therefore it wasn't until the 19th of August 1274 that he was crowned king in Westminster Abbey. Edward's reign saw an improved efficiency of parliament's role in government and codified English law providing the basis for the inheritance of land and improved public order laws. Edward's reign is probably best remembered however for overseeing the Conquest of Wales (1277 - 1283) through a series of bitter battles between England and the Welsh Princes. By 1283 England had defeated and annexed Wales, completely ending Welsh independence. Edward then went on to build several fortifications around Wales, including Harlech Castle and Caernarfon Castle. He also waged a number of brutal wars against the Scots. During one such battle he confiscated the Scottish Royal Coronation Stone, known as the Stone of Destiny, and kept it in Westminster Abbey, where it remained until 1996 when it was finally sent back to it's rightful place in Scotland's capital city Edinburgh.

King Edward died in Carlisle on the 7th of June 1307 whilst on his way to yet another war in Scotland. He was later interred in Westminster Abbey. ELEANOR OF CASTILLE In October 1254, when Edward was just fifteen years old, he was introduced to the nine year old Eleanor of Castile (1241 - 1290), whom he went on to marry on the first of November 1254 at a ceremony at the Las Huelgas Monastery in Burgos in Spain. Eleanor was born sometime in 1241 in Castille in Spain and was the daughter of Saint Ferdinand, King of Castile and Lyon and his wife Joan, Countess of Ponthieu. Although their marriage was one of diplomacy it actually went on to become one of the British Royals' true love stories. In her own right Eleanor was elemental in securing the evolution of a financial system which went on to include the settlement of the dowager queen system, for future queen consorts, which is still in evidence to this day. Eleanor died on the 28th of November 1290 whilst the royal couple were in Nottinghamshire on parliamentary business.

They had been told the news of Margaret, Maid of Norway's death and as they began to travel to her funeral in Lincoln Eleanor became ill with a fever and died in the town of Harby, Nottinghamshire. Her entrails were taken from her body at death and buried in Lincoln Cathedral and her body was transported to Westminster Abbey for burial, where the King had a cross erected in every town that they passed through on the way. These crosses are known as the Eleanor Crosses and were erected in the towns of - Charing, Dunstable, Geddington, Grantham, Lincoln, Northampton, St Albans, Stamford, Stony Stratford, Waltham, Woburn and Westcheap. Only three of these crosses survive today, the ones at Waltham, Northampton and Charing. Eleanor was eventually buried in Westminster Abbey on the 17th of December 1290.

During their thirty six year marriage the happily married couple produced sixteen children, ten of whom died in infancy, they were: A stillborn daughter 1255, Katherine 17th June 1264 - 5th September 1264, Joan January 1265 - September 1265, John 1266 - 1271, Palestine May 1271 - September 1271, Alphonso 1273 - 1284, Henry 1268 - 1274, Berengaria 1 May 1276 - 27th June 1276, stillborn daughter January 1278 and a stillborn son 1280. Richard II was born at the Abbey of St Andrew in Bordeux, France on the 6th of January 1367 and came to the throne upon the death of his grandfather, Edward III of England in 1377. His own father, Edward, the first Prince of Wales, had died the year before in 1376.

Richard was only ten years old when he was crowned king at Westminster Abbey on the 16th of July 1377, which meant he had regents running the country for him until he was eighteen, the most famous of which was John Gaunt (1340 - 1399) the Duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine. When Richard came of age he was a tall (well over six foot) good looking, intelligent and religious man, who turned his court into a place of refinement where art and culture were the order of the day, although his reign is probably best remembered for the Peasant's Revolt of 1381, instigated by roofer Wat Tyler in response to the burden of poll taxes imposed upon the poor. Richard also suffered from a personality disorder, some say even a mental illness, but this has never been substantiated. Although Richard married twice, he never had an heir, which has led some to believe that he was homosexual, as it was said he had several close relationships with male friends. Towards the end of his reign it has been said that King Richard became tyrannical, although it could have been an exacerbation of his personality disorder / mental illness.

This led to him being captured and held at Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire, both for his good and the good of the country. He died there on the 14th of February 1400, bringing an end to his twenty two year reign and because he left no heirs, the end of the Plantagenet Dynasty, leading to the crown being given to his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV, the first king of the Royal House of Lancaster. King Richard II was interred in Westminster Abbey beside his first wife Anne.

Question: Which British monarch was murdered at Berkeley Castle in September 1327?
Answer: Edward II